Mark Twain's 1891 Opinion of Masonry Heaters

In 1891, MARK TWAIN (Samuel L. Clemens) devoted several pages of his book, "Europe and Elsewhere" to the masonry heater and pleaded for its introduction to America:

"Consider these things. One firing is enough for the day; the cost is next to nothing; the heat produced is the same all day, instead of too hot or too cold by turns; and one may absorb himself in his business in peace; he does not need feel any anxieties or solicitudes about his fire; his whole day is a realized dream of bodily comfort.

America could adopt this stove, but does America do it? The American wood stove, of whatsoever breed, it is a terror. There can be no tranquility of mind where it is. It requires more attention than a baby. It has to be fed every little while, it has to be watched all the time; and for all reward you are roasted half your time and frozen the other half. It warms no part of the room but its own part; it breeds headaches and suffocation, and makes one's skin feel dry and feverish; and when your wood bill comes in you think you have been supporting a volcano"